A CITYSCAPE is the urban equivalent of a landscape. In the visual arts a cityscape (urban landscape) is an artistic representation, such as a painting, drawing, print or photograph, of the physical aspects of a city or urban area. From the first century A.D. dates a fresco at the Baths of Trajan in Rome depicting a bird's eye view of an ancient city. In the Middle Ages cityscapes appeared as a background for portraits and biblical themes. From the 16th up to the 18th century numerous copperplate prints and etchings were made showing cities in bird's eye view. The function of these prints was to provide a map-like overview. Halfway the 17th century the cityscape became an independent genre in the Netherlands. In his famous 'View of Delft' in 1660-1661 Jan Vermeer painted a quite accurate portrait of the city Delft. Cities like Amsterdam, Haarlem and The Hague also became popular subjects for paintings. Painters from other European countries (Great Britain, France, Germany) followed the Dutch example. The 18th century was a flourishing period for cityscape painting in Venice (Canaletto, Guardi).

DRAWING is the act of defining (or delineating) the outlines of a figure against a background, using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques. It generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving a tool across a surface. Common tools are graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, pastels, and markers. Digital tools which simulate the effects of these are also used. An artist who excels in drawing is referred to as a draftsman or draughtsman.
Drawing is distinct from "painting", in which delineated areas are "filled in" with a color, or pattern. The terms "drawing" and "painting" are often confused, because the same tool can perform both tasks. But the operations are distinct, as the designers of graphics software applications recognized when they distinguished "path" and "fill" tools.